48 AMONG THE GREEKS. 



ular facts from which induction is th ? pathway to 

 general laws " {History of Animals, I. 6). He held . 

 that errors do not arise because the senses are false 

 media, but because we put false interpretations 

 upon their testimony. 



Aristotle's theories as to the origin and succes- 

 sion of life went far beyond what he could have 

 reached by the legitimate application of his pro- 

 fessed method of procedure. Having now briefly 

 considered the materials of his knowledge, let us 

 carefully examine how he put his facts together 

 into an Evolution system which had the teachings 

 of Plato and Socrates for its primary philosophical 

 basis. 



Aristotle believed in a complete gradation in 

 Nature, a progressive development corresponding 

 with the progressive life of the soul. Nature, he 

 says, proceeds constantly by the aid of gradual 

 transitions from the most imperfect to the most 

 perfect, while the numerous analogies which we 

 find in the various parts of the animal scale show 

 that all is governed by the same laws, — in other 

 words, Nature is a unit as to its causation. The 

 lowest stage is the inorganic, and this passes into 

 the organic by direct metamorphosis, matter being 

 transformed into life. Plants are animate as com- 

 pared with minerals, and inanimate as compared 

 with animals ; they have powers of nourishment 

 and reproduction, but no feeling or sensibility. 

 Then come the plant-animals, or Zoophytes ; these 



